bono wrote the lyrics while on a humanitarian visit to ethiopia with his wife , ali he ##ws ##on ; he first wrote them down on an airs ##ick ##ness bag while staying in a village . according to him , the song is ostensibly about " trans ##cend ##ence , elevation , whatever you want to call it . " bono , who compared many of his lyrics prior to the joshua tree to " sketches " , said that " ' where the streets have no name ' is more like the u2 of old than any of the other songs on the lp , because it ' s a sketch — i was just trying to sketch a location , maybe a spiritual location ,
bono wrote the lyrics while on a humanitarian visit to ethiopia with his wife, ali hewson ; he first wrote them down on an airsickness bag while staying in a village. according to him, the song is ostensibly about " transcendence, elevation, whatever you want to call it. " bono, who compared many of his lyrics prior to the joshua tree to " sketches ", said that "'where the streets have no name'is more like the u2 of old than any of the other songs on the lp, because it's a sketch — i was just trying to sketch a location, maybe a spiritual location,